A midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, officials said Thursday, as they scrutinized the actions of the military pilot and reported that control tower staffing was “not normal” at the time of the country's worst aviation disaster in a generation.
At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the river from Washington, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.
One air traffic controller was doing work normally assigned to two people in the tower at Reagan National when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Associated Press.
“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said.
President Donald Trump said in a White House news conference that no one had survived.
“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation," said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital.
READ MORE: https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/nation-world/aircraft-down-washington-dc-potomac-river/507-415bed11-7043-4fa0-ab80-e24084f60665
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